


Storms and Shadows

by Syverne



Category: Original Work
Genre: Forests, Journalism, Masks, Monsters, Newspapers, One Shot, POV First Person, Small Towns, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 18:41:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20013016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Syverne/pseuds/Syverne
Summary: A small-town news reporter investigating mysterious and suspicious disappearances in the fictional town of Dartmouth, Ontario becomes one of the missing.A school assignment I've decided to post. Heavily inspired by a nightmare I had back in February.





	Storms and Shadows

I yawned, struggling to keep my eyes open and focused on the road ahead. I’d been driving for what felt like an eternity, though a quick check of the clock told me it had only been a few hours. The rain beat a steady rhythm on the roof and hood of my Toyota, the lulling sound adding to my desire for sleep as the windshield wipers worked to keep my vision clear. I breathed a small sigh of relief as the headlights caught a sign posted by the side of the road:

DARTMOUTH

Population: 211

It wasn’t long after that when I finally pulled into a small dirt parking lot, shifting the car into park and turning the key in the ignition to off. I grabbed my raincoat from the passenger seat and awkwardly put it on, the enclosed space of the car making it difficult. With my backpack moved to my lap to put on once I had left the car and my keys slipped into my pocket, I took a deep breath and opened the car door to face the storm outside.

The evening sky was dark with rain clouds, hiding the sun from view and plunging the world into an extended night. A neon sign on the other side of the parking lot caught my attention, simply reading ‘MOTEL’ in bright yellow and red lights, and I headed towards it, my black sneakers getting more soaked by the second as I walked through the unavoidable puddles. The road on which I had entered town was practically deserted, and the only lit windows I could see were that of the motel before me. The tall, dark-wooded trees that surrounded the town gave me shivers in the horrible weather - the wind and the darkness making them look like spindly monsters reaching down with long, razor-sharp claws to pluck unsuspecting victims from the ground - but I shook off this feeling like I had many times before and took the final steps towards the door to the motel’s front desk.

I stopped for a moment beneath the awning to take in the dimly-lit parking lot, fluorescent street lamps barely breaking through the rain. My red Toyota was the only car there, other than a small two-seater that I assumed belonged to the owner. I couldn’t tell what colour it was - everything looked to be grey or black without the sun’s light - but if I’d had to guess I would have pegged it as blue. 

I turned around and grasped the handle of the door, quickly opening it and stepping inside. I took a second to wipe my shoes on the mat and slip my hood off before moving further inside. There was a man sitting behind the front desk, feet resting on it, who looked to be asleep, so I turned my attention to the room instead. 

The room was small, the desk taking up about half of it and restricting the available area to a space about the size of a wide hallway. The floors and walls looked to be in need of repairs, cracks and stains pockmarking everything. The wall to my right was almost entirely a huge bay window, curtains half-drawn as if someone had tried to close them but had been too tired to finish the job. A coat stand stood to the right of the window, next to the wall with the door I had just come in. To the left of the window was a shelf with some assorted brochures on it, though they looked like they hadn’t been touched in months. To my left was the front desk, a cluttered mess that also looked like it hadn’t been touched in months. A tacky gnome statue sat on it, facing the door, his wide grin a little sinister with the weather outside, paint chipping in multiple places.

The man himself was older, looking to be in his fifties or early sixties, with a short, grizzled beard that was greying around the edges. A filthy and unkempt mop of dark brown hair sat atop his head, and he wore an old leather jacket that looked like it had been run over with a truck. I was immediately put off, but from researching the town ahead of time I knew it was this place or nothing.

I stood directly in front of the desk and cleared my throat loudly, and when the man didn’t respond I rang the small bell on the desk a few times. He stirred slightly, murmuring something incoherent, and I cleared my throat again.

“Wha-” I could see the confusion in his eyes as he spotted me, taking his feet down off the desk and sitting up. “You here for a room?” he asked, voice gruff and unwelcoming.

“If you’ve got any,” I replied evenly, knowing full well all of his rooms were vacant. I was probably the first stranger he’d seen in months, other than a few of the passersby whose disappearances I was investigating.

“Sure, sure,” he waved a hand dismissively. “Always got rooms in this dirty hole of a town. ‘S fifty bucks a night.”

Fifty dollars? I didn’t believe my luck. I fished my wallet out of my bag and opened it. “Do you take debit?” I asked, expecting the answer to be-

“No. Cash only.” He pointed at a tiny sign on the desk that I hadn’t noticed that indeed read ‘CASH ONLY’. 

I sighed internally and pulled out two twenties and a ten, placing them down on the desk. They disappeared almost immediately, snatched away by the older man before me.

“Room one’s yours,” he called, turning around to grab the key of said room from behind him. He slapped the key down on the desk, a small copper-coloured object that was vaguely key-shaped, a blue tag with the number one scrawled messily onto it clipped onto the keyring.

I picked up the key, silently wondering what kind of disgusting germs inhabited it, and slung the keyring around my finger out of habit. “Right,” I said, stepping back. “Thanks. Bye.”

He only grunted in reply as I left, opening the door and heading back out into the storm. The rain seemed to have lessened while I had been inside, but it was still pouring, and I drew my hood back up as I sloshed through the parking lot towards a pale blue door with a number one scrawled onto it, just like the key. It was caked with dirt and grime, but I didn’t have much of a choice, so I inserted the key into the lock and pushed it open. I reached for the lightswitch and quickly turned it on, looking around at the room.

It was dirty, it was disgusting, and I seriously contemplated spending the night in my car before slinging my backpack off my shoulders and setting it on the ground. There were worse places to stay. 

When the morning came, I was up at a relatively decent hour, though the sun wasn’t, still hidden behind layers of black storm clouds. I had slept in my clothes, the idea of changing in such a room making me feel uncomfortable, though I had shed my jacket, which lay across a nearby chair. I climbed quickly off the queen-sized bed, grabbing my jacket and slipping it on, snatching up my backpack from the ground, and heading towards the door, picking up the keys I had left next to the old black-and-white TV on the way in. 

I locked the door behind me, though I hadn’t left anything inside. It was still raining outside, though not as heavily as the night before, and drops hit gently against my head as I walked briskly through the parking lot. I crossed the street easily, it still void of cars, heading towards a small coffee shop I could see that seemed to be buzzing with life. I’d slept in, so it was already nine o’clock, the sign on the door of the coffee shop showing that it had opened at eight, which might have explained the crowd I could see through the windows. It seemed like the whole town was inside, which made it the perfect place to start my investigation.

Multiple heads turned to look at me as I entered, and I once again recalled the fact that this town didn’t get many visitors. A few of the conversations died as I passed them, but I paid this no mind. I stepped up to the counter with my wallet already in hand, swiftly ordering a chocolate chip cookie and a hot chocolate. The barista gave me a once-over with her eyes as she took my order, commenting “You’re from out of town.”

I nodded. “I’m a reporter with the Flying Heron paper - you know, the one that covers all the news in this part of the province.” I heard even more people go quiet as they tuned in to what I was saying. The barista just made a ‘hm’ noise and set about preparing the hot chocolate for me, and I leaned on the counter as I waited. Some of the townsfolk tried to hide their looks by carrying on conversations, and some didn’t bother, openly staring at me with guarded, unfriendly eyes. I was relieved when, after what felt like forever, I received my order, taking it and sitting down at the one empty table in the whole shop. 

The general air seemed not only unfriendly but also oddly nervous, the tables around me clearing as I ate. Finally, a younger man took the spot across from me, folding his hands on the table and peering intensely at me.

“What are you doing here?” he asked simply, brushing blond hair out of his eyes. Others might have found him attractive, I sure didn’t, giving him a blank stare.

“I’m investigating the strange disappearances in this area,” I replied evenly, fishing my notebook out of my bag. “I don’t suppose you could tell me anything?”

“Leave this town and don’t come back,” he warned me, leaning towards me from across the table. “You’ll get no answers from anybody here.”

Intrigued, I watched him leave, finishing off my hot chocolate and looking around to see if there was anybody not watching me with cold eyes. I found no such people, as even a group of rather pleasant-looking old ladies seemed hostile towards me as I got up to leave. If none of the townsfolk would speak to me, I’d just have to investigate the forest myself - that was where all the disappearances had happened, after all.

The rain had picked up again outside, and my shoes were thoroughly soaked by the time I reached the edge of the dark oak forest that surrounded the town. The darkness seemed almost impenetrable, light from nearby streetlamps barely illuminating the ground in front of me. I took my emergency flashlight from my bag and flicked it on, shining it around for a few moments before entering the forest.

The forest was significantly less wet than the town, the trees creating a canopy above that caught the majority of the rainfall. It also threw the forest into near-darkness, and I relied heavily on my flashlight to lead my way. It wasn’t a silent trek, branches breaking under foot as I moved deeper into the forest, not sure exactly what I was looking for. Suddenly, a glitter of something in the flashlight beam caught my eye, and I squinted at the form suddenly looming out of the shadows. 

It was a maze. A gigantic, crumbling, and moss-covered stone maze in the middle of the forest. Worry suddenly struck me, but it was overcome by curiosity, and I started to walk along the length of the stone wall, trying to find a proper entrance. I soon found what I was looking for, and I stepped into the maze.

I was glad that it wasn’t a very complicated maze, and I reached the centre fairly easily. An odd wooden structure greeted me, and I walked around it, shining my flashlight where I could reach and trying to figure out what exactly it was. I returned to the front of the building and was about to turn around and leave when I heard an odd whistling noise, like wind through the trees.

The doors of what I could only assume was some sort of shrine slammed open, and I stepped forward to peer inside, able to see nothing but darkness. I suddenly heard footsteps, many of them, and my eyes widened when I saw the people. They filled the far side of the clearing, and a shiver went down my spine. From the shoulders down, they looked like normal civilians, in assorted dirty clothing, but on their heads… on their heads they wore animal skulls, covering their faces like masks, the eyeholes glowing an ethereal green in the dark woods.

For a moment I was frozen, and then I turned and sprinted back out of the clearing, into the maze and the woods beyond, the flashlight beam flickering on nearby trees. I could hear quick steps pounding on the ground behind me, but I didn’t want to look. Branches hit painfully against my face and I raised my arms to block them, cuts stinging angrily as I ran. Leaves and twigs crunched and cracked under my feet, and it was just luck that I didn’t run straight into a tree. It seemed like an eternity until I finally reached the edge of the forest, and I headed towards the nearest house.

I banged furiously on the door, casting a terrified look back at the masked creeps following me. When the middle-aged lady inside opened the door I tried to push my way inside, only to be blocked by an arm. “Please, they’re chasing me-” I tried to explain, but she just gave me a sympathetic look.

“They need to take someone, or else they’ll come for all of us. I’m sorry.” Her hands collided with my chest, pushing me backwards, and I stumbled, falling off the porch and landing on my back. 

The last thing I saw was a deer skull with glowing eyes hanging in front of my face, and then everything went dark.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! Thank you for reading my short story! If you enjoyed this, please leave a kudos and a comment, they really help motivate me to post more of my writing, and maybe check out some of my other works? I write for a handful of different fandoms, so there might be something else there that you'd like!  
> Again, thanks so much for reading!


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